[ENFP]
[INFP]
[ENFJ]
[INFJ]
[ESTJ]
[ISTJ]
[ESFJ]
[ISFJ]
[ENTP]
[INTP]
[ENTJ]
[INTJ]
[ESTP]
[ISTP]
[ESFP]
[ISFP]
Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving
by Joe Butt
Profile: INTP
Revision: 2.4
Date of Revision: 20 Jul 03
INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so
deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually
are oblivious to the world around them.
Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often
correct others (or be sorely tempted to) if the shade of
meaning is a bit off. While annoying to the less concise,
this fine discrimination ability gives INTPs so inclined a
natural advantage as, for example, grammarians and
linguists.
INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to most
anything until their principles are violated, about which
they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to
return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not
wishing to make spectacles of themselves.
A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of
impending failure. They spend considerable time
second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from
Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is
expressed in a sense that one's conclusion may well be met
by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that,
after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical
bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be
trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In
this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are
much more confident in their competence and willing to act
on their convictions.
Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play,
similarly languages, computer systems--potentially any
complex system. INTPs thrive on systems. Understanding,
exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake
the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical
wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a
detachment from the environment, a concentration where time
is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay.
Accomplishing a task or goal with this knowledge is
secondary.
INTPs and Logic -- One of the tipoffs that a person is an
INTP is her obsession with logical correctness. Errors are
not often due to poor logic -- apparent faux pas in
reasoning are usually a result of overlooking details
or of incorrect context.
Games NTs seem to especially enjoy include Risk, Bridge,
Stratego, Chess, Go, and word games of all sorts. (I
have an ENTP friend that loves Boggle and its variations.
We've been known to sit in public places and pick a word off
a menu or mayonnaise jar to see who can make the most words
from its letters on a napkin in two minutes.) The INTP
mailing list has enjoyed a round of Metaphore,
virtual volleyball, and a few 'finish the series' brain
teasers.
INTPs in the main are not clannish. The INTP mailing
list, with a readership now in triple figures, was in its
incipience fraught with all the difficulties of the Panama
canal: we had trouble deciding on:
- 1) whether or not there should be such a group,
- 2) exactly what such a group should be
called, and
- 3) which of us would have to take the responsibility
for organization and maintenance of the aforesaid
group/club/whatever.
Functional Analysis
Introverted Thinking
Introverted Thinking strives to extract the essence of the
Idea from various externals that express it. In the extreme,
this conceptual essence wants no form or substance to verify
its reality. Knowing the Truth is enough for INTPs; the
knowledge that this truth can (or could) be demonstrated is
sufficient to satisfy the knower. "Cogito, ergo sum"
expresses this prime directive quite succinctly.
In seasons of low energy level, or moments of
single-minded concentration, the INTP is aloof and detached
in a way that might even offend more relational or
extraverted individuals.
Extraverted iNtuition
Intuition softens and socializes Thinking, fleshing out the
brittle bones of truths formed in the dominant inner world.
That which is is not negotiable; yet actual
application diffuses knowledge to the extent that knowledge
needs qualification and context to be of any consequence in
this foreign world of substance.
If Thinking can desist, the INTP is free to brainstorm,
calling up the perceptions of the unconscious (i.e.,
intuition) which are mirrored in patterns in the realm of
matter, time and space. These perceptions, in the form of
theories or hunches, must ultimately defer to the inner
principles, or at least they must not negate them.
Intuition unchained gives birth to play. INTPs enjoy
games, formal or impromptu, which coax analogies, patterns
and theories from the unseen into spontaneous expression in
a way that defies their own comprehension.
Introverted Sensing
Sensing is of a subjective, inner nature similar to that of
the SJs. It supplies awareness of the forms of senses
rather than the raw, analogic stimuli. Facts and figures
seek to be cleaned up for comparison with an ever growing
range of previously experienced input. Sensing assists
intuition in sorting out and arranging information into the
building blocks for Thinking's elaborate systems.
The internalizing nature of the INTP's Sensing function
leaves a relative absence of environmental awareness (i.e.,
Extraverted Sensing), except when the environment is the
current focus. Consciousness of such conditions is at best a
sometime thing.
Extraverted Feeling
Feeling tends to be all or none. When present, the INTP's
concern for others is intense, albeit naive. In a crisis,
this feeling judgement is often silenced by the emergence of
Thinking, who rushes in to avert chaos and destruction. In
the absence of a clear principle, however, INTPs have been
known to defer judgement and to allow decisions about
interpersonal matters to be left hanging lest someone be
offended or somehow injured. INTPs are at risk of being
swept away by the shadow in the form of their own strong
emotional impulses.
Famous INTPs:
Socrates
Rene Descartes
Blaise Pascal
Sir Isaac Newton
U.S. Presidents:
- James Madison
- John Quincy Adams
- John Tyler
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Gerald Ford
William Harvey (pioneer in human physiology)
C. G. Jung, (Freudian defector, author of Psychological
Types, etc.)
William James
Albert Einstein
Tom Foley (Speaker of the House--U.S. House of
Representatives)
Henri Mancini
Bob Newhart
Jeff Bingaman, U.S. Senator (D.--NM)
Rick Moranis (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids)
Midori Ito (ice skater, Olympic silver medalist)
Tiger Woods
Fictional INTPs
Tom and Fiona (Four Weddings and a Funeral)
Dr. Susan Lewis (ER)
Filburt(Rocko's Modern Life)
Copyright © 1996-2003 Joe Butt
Type Relationships for INTPs:
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